Manchester City’s surprisingly poor defence of the Premier League title has led to Pep Guardiola making three big-money signings – with the potential of more to come.
City have signed Eintracht Frankfurt forward Omar Marmoush (£59m), Palmeiras defender Vitor Reis (£29.6m) and Lens centre-back Abdukodir Khusanov (£33.6m).
They had not previously made a significant January signing since £57m Aymeric Laporte in 2018.
Paul MacDonald of FootballTransfers.com said: “In January 2023, £815m was spent and this represented 28.4% of all transfer fees spent in that season – the highest of any year in the past decade.
“But there were a few mitigating factors. Chelsea alone were responsible for £286m of that. We also witnessed a sense of desperation in sides threatened with relegation – Leeds, Southampton, Leicester, who would all ultimately go down – and Bournemouth spent over £200m between them to attempt to avoid the drop.
“But 2024 saw a complete reset – £96m was spent, just 3.9% of the total outlay for the season, as teams appeared happy with their lot and, crucially, were acutely aware of emerging PSR restrictions and opted to retain any spending power for the summer window.”
Profit and sustainability rules have hindered clubs – with Everton and Nottingham Forest receiving points deductions last season for breaking the Premier League’s spending rules.
No clubs have fallen foul of the rules this year.
McDonald added: “2025 is shaping up to be a more active window than last year, with Manchester City extremely active.
“But they have the headroom after amassing a very strong PSR position courtesy of their quiet summer business and others, like Manchester United, probably aren’t as fortunate.
“Liverpool probably do have the PSR headroom, too, but their focus is likely to be on renewals rather than acquisitions, as Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah’s remain very much up for grabs.
“And Chelsea are still trying to find equilibrium by offloading some of the mass of players they brought in – but again, they may see the summer window as a better place to extract value for those deemed surplus to requirements.”
